Thoughts on the Bulldog/Tiger Match-Up

My Mississippi State Bulldogs will be playing at Auburn, with a 1-1 record, to open SEC conference play. Our guys easily breezed past Alcorn, with a 51-7 ending score.
QB Tyler Russell may start, but I don’t expect him to get the majority of play time; rather, I see Dak Prescott getting the majority. Auburn may see this as an opportunity, and it may be. Prescott and team have gotten a lot of practice time in, and are comfortable together. So Auburn shouldn’t get too excited about us switching QB’s.

The Auburn Tigers have a new coach this year, Gus Malzahn, previous offensive coordinator for their team. In 2012, Auburn only won 3 games, leading to the obvious firing of Head Coach Chizik. I think they are still a little messy, and are still regrouping.

The Tigers currently have an impressive (to a Bulldog, anyways) 10 game conference losing streak. Yikes. Everyone at Auburn, I would expect, would loooove to break that record tomorrow. I think it all comes down to each team’s defense. I see interceptions, fumbles, perhaps from both teams; I also see a few HailState, ahem– Hail Mary passes for touchdowns. The fans will make a difference, too. Starkville is 4 hours away from Auburn, so it’s a very feasible drive; there should be plenty of faithful Dawgs showing up. However, since it’s an SEC conference game, our tried-and-true noisemaker, the cowbell, will be outlawed. Host teams usually go to great lengths to scan for for them.

Vegas odds have the Tigers at a 7 point favorite. I think it will certainly be a close game, each team leading at different points in the game. We are playing on their turf, which has over 87,000 capacity. It won’t be sold out, but it will definitely be loud. We need to make our presence known, be loud, be ‘true maroon’. I love my Dawgs. Go get ’em!! Watch at 6pm, on ESPNU.